


"You can always come back to me, Johnny boy."

by Makuahine



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Angst, Heavy Angst, One Shot, POV John Watson, POV Third Person, Sad, Sad Ending, Short One Shot, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:15:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25478263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Makuahine/pseuds/Makuahine
Summary: There was a snap followed by a crunch and blood hitting the ground in a wet splat.  A scream bounced off the walls of the small concrete room.  The only lighting was a single dim lightbulb that hung from the ceiling and flickered every so often.
Relationships: James Moriarty & John Watson, Jim Moriarty & John Watson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	"You can always come back to me, Johnny boy."

There was a snap followed by a crunch and blood hitting the ground in a wet splat. A scream bounced off the walls of the small concrete room. The only lighting was a single dim lightbulb that hung from the ceiling and flickered every so often. 

The pained grunts died down to soft whimpering, “Come on Johnny, how many times was that now?” James leaned over his captive, tilting the man’s tired head up to meet his gaze. His blue eyes screwed tight in pain, “...f-four.” His voice was raw from screaming. The man above him smiled and patted his cheek, “Good boy” His hands dropped the blonde’s head. 

James tossed the severed finger into the corner of the room next to three others. It hit the ground with a light thump. He walked around to sit in front of John, leaning forward in the chair. He was close enough to run his hand down the other’s arm. At the moment, the smaller man's body was sitting on the ground against the wall, his arms suspended in chains from the ceiling. 

The criminal's hand reached up to cup the back of John’s wrist. He ran his thumb in circles across the man’s bloody and sweaty palms, “This was the same hand that you used to shoot that taxi driver. The man who was just trying to raise money for his family...” He lightly sighed, “His family stopped receiving his steady income. The children had to be taken from their mother and put into foster care since the mother could no longer afford to take care of them.” 

John lightly grunted as he felt the thumb drag across his swollen bloody hand, “What was I supposed to do? Let the man continue killing others because You kept paying him to.” James shrugged with a laugh as he listened to the soldiers attempt to put some bite into his bark when his voice was already raw. To act put together when he was quite literally falling apart, “You are such a strong man, Watson. SO... brave.” he rolled his head around as if stretching his neck. 

John ignored him as he spoke. James raised his brow and hummed. He reached down to lift the other’s head again. He could see the tears of pain from earlier began to dry up, “It must be sad to see your mangled hand...the hand that has helped so many people...yet you’re so underappreciated.” He paused and gently ran his thumb across his cheek, “It’s always Sherlock this Sherlock that. You sacrifice so much for Sherlock. Yet what does he give you in return? What does anyone ever give you in return?” 

John knew he should not take whatever Moriarty said too seriously. The man loved to get into people’s heads and underneath their skin, “You’re wrong.” He growled, “Sherlock appreciates me plenty and I’m sure that he will be here soon to stop you.” He bared his teeth at the suited man who only seemed to look back at him with amusement. 

“Oh, I’m sure he is coming... though you think that he would at least try a little harder to do it. I made the clues easy this time and you have been here for about twenty-four hours already. Either he isn’t taking me too seriously or he doesn’t value you as much as you seem to think.” James moved his thumb to gently graze the man’s bottom lip. 

John knew better than to let the words get to him, but after being here so long in this situation, he lost track of time. He knew better than to think that Sherlock does not value him. But he still could not help but wonder if the detective had been trying his best to find him. It felt like needles poking at his heart. But he still should not think about those things, especially when he knew how Moriarty worked, “No he will come.” 

James could see it, the doubt swirling in his beautiful wide blue eyes, the fear, and pain. He could even hear it in his voice. All he had to do was poke around in John’s self-consciousness and self-doubt, and he became easy to manipulate, “Aw, is he your hero, Johnny? Some hero he is. But if he does come, it would not be for you. You can’t have a good guy without a villain, and I am the only one that got away.” 

John could not deny that that was not completely true. After Moriarty had shown up, Sherlock dove straight into finding him. He busied himself with work, never having enough time for him. He could not find anything to combat the criminal’s statement. All he did was watch the man stand up back from his chair. All he could do was feel his body tense up again as the other went to the table and lifted the bolt cutter back up. 

“Don’t worry Johnny, I will give you my full attention instead.” James walked back to John. He watched as the man tried to desperately pull his hands out of the manacles again, “Normally, I don’t do the dirty work. But since you hold a special place in my heart, I wanted to be the one to do it. You’ll receive my undivided attention.” 

James raised his hand to run it down his other arm, the arm that had the unharmed hand attached to it. He leaned down, placing his face close to John’s, “Now now, you should stop struggling. It will only hurt more if you do.” He smirked and tilted his head to the side, placing a rough kiss on the other’s mouth before sharply biting into his bottom lip, leaving bloody gashes. He pulled away with a laugh and moved to the clenched fist. 

James ran his hand over the knuckles on John’s unharmed fingers. Fingers that he would soon cut off. He hummed as he ignored John’s begging, moving the thumb out of the way before he jammed the bolt cutters above and below the base of his index finger. He cut down and John screamed as the finger separated from his hand and dropped to the ground beside his leg. 

John’s eyes glanced down to the finger and quickly looked back up, fresh tears falling from his face. James leaned down and picked the finger up from the ground. He tossed it into the corner with the other four fingers, “Now, how many was that?” He did not understand why the man would make him count as he cut off his fingers, but he answered in his pained voice. How he could still speak, he did not know, “Five.” 

John spoke in just a whisper, a whimper. Hearing the man’s voice gave James a better Idea than just killing him in the end. He leaned down with a purr and licked the tears from his cheek. He then continued to cut off the other three fingers on his hand. He let him keep his thumbs. Once his fingers were severed, he placed the bolt cutters back down and pulled out a scalpel. 

“I’m going to take out your vocal cords. With your fingers and vocal cords gone, you won’t have a way to communicate. Whenever Sherlocks looks at you, he will only see his greatest failure. He will ignore you, pity you, keep you from accompanying him on cases, and immerse himself in work. As a man like yourself, I can imagine how painful that would be. So, once you get tired of his treatment, you can always come back to me. I won’t pity you.” 

James could see the fear in John’s eyes, he could see how the man shook his head, begged, and pleaded. But they all fell on deaf ears. He stilled the man's head before cutting into his throat. It did not take John long before he passed out in pain and it did not take him long to find the vocal cords and destroy them. 

James knew Sherlock was close to finding this place. So, he unlocked the chains from John's wrists and did not bother to clean up the mess before he wrote a note and left with one of his drivers. 

Sherlock came in with Scotland Yard soon after. Medical units quickly got to John as Sherlock found the note left behind, “You just missed me. Hope you like the present. -Love JM” The note was crumpled and tossed. 

When John woke up in the hospital, the first thing he saw was Sherlock. Though Sherlock could barely look at him. All the detective could say was sorry, but the doctor could not reply with anything. And he was brought back to Moriarty’s words that made him shiver, ‘Once you get tired...you can always come back to me.’ 


End file.
